Ohio's education standards debated

Sunday

May 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 5, 2013 at 10:49 AM

New math and English standards known as the Common Core are already in Ohio classrooms, even as opposition mounts from groups that include those affiliated with the tea party. Kindergartners in Hamilton schools are having book discussions, writing their thoughts about where a sneaky rabbit might have gone at the end of their story.

New math and English standards known as the Common Core are already in Ohio classrooms, even as opposition mounts from groups that include those affiliated with the tea party.

Kindergartners in Hamilton schools are having book discussions, writing their thoughts about where a sneaky rabbit might have gone at the end of their story.

A third-grade class in Reynoldsburg is trying to explain what words such as pollution and contamination mean in a unit where they will create their own water filters.

Pickerington seventh-graders are using linear equations to figure out which cellphone carrier would best serve a family and business owners. Several schools already have aligned all grade levels to the new math and language-arts standards that spell out what students should know to be successful in college and their careers.

Ohio districts are only a year away from the 2014-15 deadline to implement the more-rigorous Common Core academic standards, but many have been phasing them in since Ohio adopted them in 2010.

Meanwhile, inside the Statehouse, a debate has arisen over whether Ohio should remain among the 45 states that decided to replace their math and English standards with those in the Common Core. They’ll also introduce new tests starting in 2014.

“I would be disappointed if they drew the rug out from under us,” said Susan Witten, who oversees curriculum at Hamilton schools.

Some say concerns over the Common Core reached new levels when conservative commentators Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin began criticizing the standards a few months ago.

The chorus of opposition grew to the point that the Republican National Committee in mid-April adopted a resolution opposing the Common Core, saying it is an “inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform to a preconceived ‘ normal.’??”

“Please seriously consider taking action to ensure that Ohio rejects the implementation of Common Core, and keep the education of Ohio students under the control of Ohioans,” a woman wrote last month to House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, one of numerous efforts by standards opponents to reach out to lawmakers.

Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, a legislative leader on education policy, said she is hearing from colleagues who aren’t sure what to make of the recent wave of criticism.

“I think there’s an extreme amount of misinformation floating out there on the Common Core,” she said. “They’re taking bits and pieces of information, and it’s spreading like wildfire in some circles.”

The Common Core is a state-led effort that included the National Governors Association and state education chiefs. It calls for more rigorous, common standards out of concern that students — even those in high-performing states — graduate and pass required exams, only to need remedial classes in college.

“One of the most-unfortunate things that happened, probably, is Barack Obama looked at it and said it’s a good thing,” Lehner said. “So people have gone after it because the president has endorsed it. But he had nothing to do with developing it.”

Current standards have been criticized for being a mile wide and an inch deep, covering many topics at the surface level. The Common Core standards, their supporters say, take a mile-deep and inch-wide approach.

Students are expected to have a higher level of understanding. They should know how to sift information from nonfiction texts such as journals and articles. There will be less emphasis on writing narrative pieces about how a story affected them. Instead, writing assignments will focus on using texts to prove opinions and arguments.

“They’ve been taught the whole cut-and-paste answer in response to a question,” said Linda Geist, a sixth-grade teacher at Baldwin Road Junior High School in Reynoldsburg. “I ask them, ‘What are you trying to say with these words?’ It’s trying to get them to learn and dig down through that work and dig into the meaning.”

While work continues in the classroom, public forums blasting the Common Core have been held across Ohio this year as groups including Education Freedom Ohio and Ohioans Against Common Core have formed. People were urged to contact state lawmakers as the House debated the new two-year state budget.

“It would be a dereliction of duty for our legislature to really cede control to this private entity, the National Governors Association,” said Thea Shoemake of Cincinnati, co-founder of Education Freedom Ohio. “When we called our legislators all over the state, most of them had no idea what it was, and that’s concerning.”

House Republicans signaled some concern when they approved a budget amendment in mid-April stripping away language that tied a school technology earmark to new online tests that are aligned with Common Core standards.

They could have gone much further.

Rep. John Becker, a Cincinnati-area Republican, drafted an amendment he called the “nuclear option” that would have eliminated the Common Core in Ohio. He more seriously pushed a second amendment that would have removed any budget mention of, or funding for, Common Core.

“I got some pushback from the caucus, but I was told there would be some meetings on Common Core,” Becker said, adding that he then agreed to drop his proposal.

“What I accomplished was getting it on the radar so we can discuss it,” he said. “And we’re doing that.”

Opponents are concerned the government will use devices such as “wireless skin conductance sensors” or “posture analysis seats” to record data about students at their desks. They worry the data would be shared with the federal government and corporations.Shoemake said even if today’s leaders say they won’t do that, “they can’t guarantee me that the next guy that takes their place won’t.”Sen. Lehner said the biggest misconceptions she has heard are that the Common Core is a federal program and that children’s personal data will go to the federal government. “Nothing about the reporting system is different than what is under our current standards.”

Kirk Keller, a math coach at Pickerington’s Ridgeview Junior High, said that in the past, kids have been asked to memorize rules such as a negative number multiplied by a positive number equals a negative number.

With the Common Core, students are expected to understand why that formula is true.

“It involves students communicating their ideas, having conjectures, testing them and defending them,” he said. “It’s all part of richness they’ve seen in practices in higher-performing countries.”

Local teachers have spent years studying the new standards and aligning lesson plans accordingly. Districts have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on training and instructional materials.

“We feel really good about the new Common Core and the new learning standards because it pushes our students to a higher level of application of the content,” said Jennifer Wene, director of academic achievement and professional development in Worthington schools.

“The real shift is actually going to come in teaching practices. You have to teach in a very different way. … This is something that I don’t think is very apparent.”

She said teachers have raised concerns with the new standards but have stayed on board with the change.

By next year, all Worthington courses except electives will meet the new standards.

Implementation plans vary by district. Many have phased in the Common Core-aligned curriculum in at least kindergarten and first grade.

Reynoldsburg, meanwhile, has three buildings that meet the new standards: Baldwin Road, Summit Road STEM Elementary and Reynoldsburg High School.

Baldwin Road Principal Scott Bennett said some parents have said they thought the work was too tough for their kids. He argues that when you raise expectations for kids, they will live up to them for the most part.

“Kids have been able to do things I thought they wouldn’t be able to do,” he said. “But when you give them an opportunity, they surprise you more often than not.”

Dispatch Reporter Collin Binkley contributed to this story.

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